The Securities Industry and Financial Market Association, Wall Street's biggest trade group, is calling for a major cyber war council to stave off what they seem to think are inevitable terrorist attacks on the banking and finance industry that could erase all balances in bank accounts, causing runs on banks and bringing down the economy.
Banks Dreading Computer Hacks Call for Cyber War Council - Yahoo Finance
The proposal is for a government-industry panel of executives and deputy level representatives from at least eight federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, all led by a senior White House official.
The proposal presents a pessimistic view by the industry of its readiness for attacks wielded by nation-states or terrorist groups that aim to "destroy data and machines." It says the concerns are "compounded by the dependence of financial institutions on the electric grid," which is also vulnerable to physical and cyber attack.
The next wave of attacks "in the near-medium term" is likely to be more destructive and could result in "account balances and books and records being converted to zeros," while recovering the lost information "would be difficult and slow," according to the Sifma document.My Comment: This is just one reason why I have never accepted changing over to only e-statements. At least with a formally printed statement in hand, I have something to show in an effort to get my money back, even if a statement would not be final and definitive. It sure is better than having nothing to show, especially if my account were not simply turned into zeros, but it were actually wiped out, with the bank having no record that I even have an account. Frankly, I think this council, as one measure, should require all banks and financial institutions to send out printed statements, ban e-statements only. That won't solve all problems, but it is something to help at least establish that you have an account. Sure, banks can have backup systems, but a cyber attack could be diabolical enough to wipe those out at the same time.
Imagine how many people could lose all their money if bank account balances were wiped out.